Woman paralyzed in ’05 shooting found dead
A 29-year-old woman who was partially paralyzed as a teenager in 2005 during a drive-by shooting at a church festival in Brighton Heights has died from a suspected gunshot wound.
Tionna Highsmith of Glen Hazel was found dead Monday morning in her apartment on Roselle Court, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m., according to the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office.
It was not clear whether Ms. Highsmith’s death was linked to the unsolved 2005 shooting. The medical examiner’s office will rule on whether her death was homicide, suicide, accidental or undetermined.
Chris Togneri, a police spokesman, said that while Ms. Highsmith’s body was found Monday, “she was not shot yesterday.”
Ms. Highsmith was profiled by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2006 when a Pittsburgh police detective, Joseph Bielevicz, raised money to help build a wheelchair ramp for her.
Jeanette Thompson, Ms. Highsmith’s grandmother, said Tuesday that she did not know what happened.
“They’re trying to find out if it was because of the accident,” Ms. Thompson, 75, of Hazelwood said.
“She was fine. I don’t know what happened.”
Ms. Thompson said she last saw her granddaughter Wednesday, and Ms. Highsmith was in good spirits.
She said her granddaughter had graduated from high school, worked for a time at a beauty school and recently was doing telemarketing from home.
“She traveled. She did pretty good,” Ms. Thompson said.
But she never regained use of her legs. As for the man who shot her, “We really didn’t talk about him much,” Ms. Thompson said.
Ms. Highsmith, however, did stay in touch with the detective who worked her case, according to her grandmother.
Detective Bielevicz got to know Ms. Highsmith while investigating the shooting after taking over the case from other detectives. He declined an interview request Tuesday.
After hearing an offhand comment from Ms. Highsmith about needing a ramp, an idea took root in Detective Bielevicz’s mind. He sought assistance from colleagues in the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help raise money for a wheelchair ramp.
“I am asking all of you to ensure
that I am not proven wrong by contributing to this effort if you can,” Detective Bielevicz wrote in a note to his colleagues in 2006. “I think this is a great opportunity for us to help a truly innocent victim in a meaningful way.”
Ms. Highsmith was shot Aug. 3, 2005, as the annual St. Cyril of Alexandria Church carnival was ending. As she sat on a car in the 3800 block of Brighton Road, Ms. Highsmith noticed two girls fighting in the street. She wandered over to look when she was shot by someone dangling from the window of a car driving by.
Investigators believe the shooter was targeting a man in a dispute between rival gangs, and Ms. Highsmith was shot by accident.
Their efforts to close the case were frustrated in a variety of ways, and the case became personal for Detective Bielevicz, who lived in Brighton Heights at the time.
“It bothered me that that happened in my neighborhood,” he said in 2006. “I happen to live here and do give a damn.”
There have been no arrests in Ms. Highsmith’s case, which remains open. Mr. Togneri asked anyone with information to call police at (412) 323-7161.
Through his fundraising efforts, Detective Bielevicz raised $1,274 from between 40 and 50 people. In addition to paying for the ramp, he was able to give Ms. Highsmith some cash and a bookstore gift certificate.
“She’s so full of life, and she’s taking it so well,” Detective Bielevicz said then. “I don’t know that I could deal with something the way this girl is dealing with it. I have all the respect in the world for her.”